In the Gilding Shop, Coalport Porcelain

The women at work here are adding gilding to the ‘batwing’ pattern. Intricate gilding was carried out by skilled male employees, while women added simple gilded lines to printed and painted patterns. Mrs Edith Wale (nee Hurdley) who was briefly employed as a liner at the Works in 1913-14, recalled using a device like a wheel to paint gilded lines in a circle.